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Hi.

They are not meat, but they are not vegan in principle no matter where you get them.

I would not eat them myself, because I'm against purchasing chickens to exploit them for eggs, especially if they're from a breeder and hatchery. At hatcheries where the chickens are produced, both females and males are produced. Males are killed. When chickens are bought from a hatchery, you are creating a demand for the killing of the males as well. By using eggs from hatchery hens, aren't you saying you're okay with that? You're feeding the machine. Also, hens have been bred over many years to produce an unnatural amount of eggs. One egg a day is a lot for a bird. It's really a sad thing no matter where these domesticated birds end up. Keep in mind that some hens are fed fish meal/oil as well. So you are also demanding fish products. That's why you see some eggs at the store marked "vegetarian" or "vegetarian fed."

For a vegetarian who uses eggs, eggs such as yours are much better than the alternative. As far as eggs go, by comparison, you're still better than conditions at factory farms, as long as your landlady knows how to take care of chickens properly. Commercial feed, for example, may be made to increase egg production-- unhealthy for chickens, but farmers don't care because they only need them to last a little over a year before they kill them, or if they don't start producing enough when they're younger, they cull those and kill them too. What does your landlady plan to do with them when their egg quality declines? Kill them and replace them? Eat them? Keep them on the property? Note that you also may get some bloody eggs, because in egg production, they candle eggs and pull out any eggs with blood spots. So don't be surprised if some are bloody.

If they were rescue chickens, although not considered vegan, I see nothing really wrong with using waste eggs. Farm Sanctuary uses the waste shells to feed back to rescued chickens to replenish calcium.

Ultimately it's up to you and your beliefs-- your philosophy. As you said, the eggs are there anyway. As long as you have no heart disease, up to 6 yolks a week is fine healthwise. Frankly, there's not a whole lot to the egg whites except the protein-- 3.6 g per large egg white. Not much, but full of essential amino acids. The yolk is where the most micronutrients are, except that's also where the cholesterol bomb is. I do not believe eggs are unhealthy for people in small amounts from healthy hens. Even the shell is edible calcium. That aside, I think they're gross. I suggest that if you're going to benefit from their eggs, pay something back to the chickens. Learn and make sure they're well taken care of. Extend your compassion to them. Spend time with them and learn about them. In this way you're at least making the most of a situation over which they have no choice.

Here are some tips on caring for rescue chickens from Farm Sanctuary http://www.farmanimalshelters.org/care_chicken.htm

Hi. Eggs don't count as meat because they're unfertilized. There's nothing wrong with you eating eggs from happy chickens because you know they're looked after well and everything. If you don't want to waste them, then it's fine if you continue eating the eggs. I'm a vegetarian and I always do my best to eat free range eggs, but I eat them in cakes and pasta and stuff, not just on their own. You made a great choice to be veggie! I would find it very difficult to give up dairy. Hope this helped.

Have you asked this before or was it someone else? :P

Don't follow someone else's rules just because they're rules. Think for yourself, and decide whether or not something is ethical.

If you're too attached to the 'vegan' label, don't eat eggs. But if you can see for yourself that no harm is done, ignore the people who tell you off for not being a perfect vegan.

(P.S. If there are only hens and no roosters around, the eggs will not be fertilized, so it's not like you're killing unborn chickens-to-be.)

You have gotten several opinions on whether or not you should eat the eggs. No one has mentioned whether or not the whites are unhealthy for you. The whites are actually healthier than the yolk as the yolk contains the cholesterol. The white part does not. I cannot comment on the vegetarian or vegan part of this since I am neither. I just wanted you to know the whites are healthier than the yolks. Enjoy!

If you want to eat vegan stay away from eggs. Most vegetarians will eat eggs. Personally I don't eat eggs just because I think they are gross but it really depends on what kind of vegetarian you are.

definitely not!

if you were a vegan, you wouldn't eat eggs though. i have vegan friends who don't eat eggs.

i'm a vegetarian and i don't eat eggs, cause i am also more on the vegan side too :)

the chickens that lay eggs for us to eat are made so that the chicks wouldn't hatch, but real chickens actually hatch their eggs and i just want the eggs with the chicks to be left alone so thats why i don't eat eggs :P

To your question -- No way!

However you could do a little research before buying eggs in stores... look up the company/brand name and see if they also use their chickens for meat?

This is a stupid answer but I say go ahead and eat eggs!

Nope. Eggs are good. The egg is just like the chicken haveing its period. They live happy lives and would lay eggs any way.

The bottom line is, it's up to your beliefs. I chose a vegan lifestyle because of the treatment of, and chemical infiltration of animals. So, for me, to see that these animals are not being mistreated I would have no problem.

Again, that's just my opinion based on my morals...

Commercial eggs are NOT FERTILIZED. Therefore, a commercial egg will NEVER become a chicken. It is not meat.